Water Shortage Problem Persists in Tskhinvali

Because Georgia has failed to properly repair a damaged water pipeline, the breakaway South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali is still without a reliable potable water supply, officials in the unrecognized republic have said.

Officials in Tbilisi said on June 7 that the South Ossetian provisional administration, led by Dimitri Sanakoev, had already repaired the pipeline, apparently ending a two-week long humanitarian and political crisis.

However, the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee said on June 9 that the pipeline ?was not ready for exploitation.?

?As a result, very little water, which is dirty, is getting to Tskhinvali,? it said.

Yuri Morozov, the breakaway region?s prime minister, said the Georgian side had failed to repair ?serious damage? to the section of the pipeline running through the Georgian villages of Kheiti and Kekhvi.

?We want to appeal to the Georgian leadership to allow our workers repair the pipeline,? Morozov said.

Officials in Tskhinvali claimed that their workers had been prevented from repairing the damaged pipeline. They said Tbilisi wanted the provisional administration to take the credit for the repairs.

Meanwhile, Morozov said that Tskhinvali was seeking alternative water sources.

He said they planned to drill at least three artesian wells in Tskhinvali and to build a water sluice in the Znauri district to the west of the city.

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